Skip to main contentWhen thousands of anti-war protesters gathered Saturday in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, they were giving their marching orders by a group of activists and politicians with a decidedly partisan slant. Commissioner Erik Sten was on hand to cheer them on. U.S. Rep Earl Blumenauer was there to introduce the keynote speaker, fellow Congressman John Lewis, of Georgia. All three of them, Democrats.
Meanwhile, only a few days early, the top-ranking Democrat in Oregon, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, had cut some public-service announcements for the National Guard.
How does Kulongoski, a Marine who served in Thailand prior to the Vietnam War, feel about the idea of sending combat troops to Iraq? As news editor John Schrag learned, we don't really know.
Willamette Week: I wanted to talk because last week, someone in the office said, "I was surprised to read that the governor supports the war effort...."
Gov. Ted Kulongoski: Well, I didn't say that. What I said was I support the president as commander in chief, and I said I support the troops. To be honest, it was probably a distinction that a lot of people missed.
OK, here's your chance to explain that distinction. You support the president and you support the troops: What are your thoughts about what's going on with the move toward war?
Let me explain why I'm in the position I am in. As commander in chief of the Oregon National Guard, I have been traveling to armories around Oregon as these young men and women have been called up to be deployed. And they have this look on their face. When you're in the regular military and you're deployed, there's always the anticipation that that's going to happen and that's what you're going to do. For reserves, this is something you go to every other weekend or for two weeks a year and, all of a sudden, you're deployed for up to a year. And you're going into harm's way. Many of them have been given less than a week's notice that they're going to have to leave their jobs. They all have mortgages, they have car payments, and now they're going into the military on the salary that they get from the service. And they may be the banker, the lawyer or the candlestick maker. These are citizen soldiers, people who have children. You look at the thousand of faces of the moms and dads and wives and kids who've got tears running down their faces. These are people who, basically, have heard the call to duty and have done it. In my opinion, it's very important that when they get to wherever they're ultimately going to end up that they don't read that their governor doesn't support their effort. I will not do that.
Other elected officials have been pretty candid about their concerns. Do you think your military service has any impact on your response?
Oh, you know I wish I could tell you, "No it doesn't," but it does. Because I remember what happened. The politicians will have to figure out the policy, but, for these young men and women making this tremendous sacrifice, what they need to hear from their governor and their commander in chief is a voice of support.
When you're meeting with them, do you talk about your service?
No, not that so much. When I stand there and talk to them, it isn't so much me talking to them about my military experience. It's about what I feel. And I can get emotional about it. And some of these units are not just administrative units. They're actual combat soldiers.
Some of the biggest critics of the Vietnam War were people who'd served in Korea or the beginning stages of the Vietnam War. What was your take on it?
Well, when you come home you have a different view of it than when you're sitting there. I think you always worry about whether, in fact, there's a purpose behind whatever we're doing. And I think that's why the president is working very hard in attempting to make his case about why he's doing what he's doing. And there are other people, the political forces that can decide the political issues. I just have a position in this process that I've never had before. And that is, with these young troops, I am very supportive of them, and I want them all to come safe and sound.
Do you think the public has been adequately apprised of the costs of this war?
Well, there're two pieces to it. It's the military side, and I think that the government has made out its case. I still think what is unclear in a lot of people's minds is, "What happens afterward?" And I think that's the piece that, if you ask me, that I'm not quite sure. They can't give an accurate figure of how much per day it's going to cost for occupation, or whatever they're going to do.
We talked with members of the Oregon Congressional delegation last week, and the Democratic members were frustrated that, at a time when states are hurting financially, there have been few details about the huge costs associated with the war. They were saying that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, but let's at least be up front about it.
I think that is probably a fair statement. When you're talking about Medicaid, and you're talking about Homeland Security and "leaving no child behind," I think you need to have a domestic budget that looks as much at the people of this country as we do what's going on in other parts of the world.
Would you feel better if there were another vote in the United Nations?
I'm not gonna go that way. I think that the president is going to have to make his call. I think it's very difficult.
On Saturday, a lot of people marched in Portland raising concerns about how we are deploying these troops whom you care so much about. A lot of these are people who voted for you. What's your message to them?
My message to them is I respect them very much and their opinions, and I would never ever do anything that would prevent them from expressing their opinion.
WWeek 2015